WfMC members participating in the demonstration will include CSE Systems, Computron Software Inc., Digital Equipment Corporation, ICL, Staffware and Wang Software.
This demonstration will bring together the major strands of the WfMCs framework for end to end workflow interoperability. For the first time it will show the interchange of business process definitions and their execution across multiple workflow systems supplied by WfMC members.
Since June of this year, WfMC members have successfully performed several live demonstrations of a workflow interoperability scenario designed to show how businesses can exchange and process work from two or more workflow products. The demonstrations were in direct response to growing user demands for demonstration of the viability of its standards in distributed process management. The demonstration profiles a Supply Chain Management scenario where the integration of workflow processes links organizations to their customers and suppliers in a cooperative process. It is representative of the type of business integration issues facing organizations in many different industries. The workflow interoperability demonstration is based on the draft specification that was announced by WfMC on February 26, and refined during 1996.
WfMC's demonstration at the GIGA conference has been expanded to include support for the Coalition's Client Application API -- which provides open communication between workflow client applications and workflow engines, and the Business Process Definition specification -- which addresses the analysis, modelling and description of business process workflows.
The client appplication API portion of the expanded demonstration is based on a finalized version of the specification published in November of 1995. The business process definition portion of the demonstration is based on an initial working draft of the specification announced by WfMC in February and refined during 1996.
"By expanding our demonstration to include support for the client application API and business process definition specifications, we're showing a practical illustration of how standards can be used. Automating business processes across organizational boundaries can give order of magnitude improvements in efficiency and effectiveness. These standards can help make the virtual enterprise reality," said Nick Kingsbury, Chairman of WfMC's External Relations Committee, and International Marketing Director at Staffware, a member of WfMC.
Typically, organizations are expecting to use existing EDI connections, electronic commerce over the Internet, or direct connections with business partners to accomplish these objectives. Achieving this level of integration requires the capabilities of multiple workflow products to communicate and cooperate in data exchange and process hand-offs.
Consisting of more than 180 members in 25 countries, the Coalition has quickly become established as the primary standards body for this rapidly expanding software market. In November 1995, the Coalition published its workflow application programming interface (Interface 2) specification designed to give users increased flexibility in implementing standards-based workflow systems.
Workflow Management Coalition Office
Avenue Marcel Thiry 204, 1200 Brussels,Belgium;
Tel: +32 2 774 96 33. Fax: +32 2 774 96 90
E-Mail: 100113.1555@compuserve.com
Or contact one of the Country Contacts
Last updated: Tue Oct 29 10:37:00 1996 by Austin Tate, AIAI (A.Tate@ed.ac.uk)